Michigan Muskie Alliance

Muskie stocking
• About 12,500 to be stocked in October
• Pike size limit to be reinstated

By BRIAN MULHERIN Daily News Staff Writer 9-29-2005
bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com 843-1122, ext. 348

Anglers on Hamlin Lake will notice some big additions to the fishery in a few years if they’re lucky.

The Department of Natural Resources is expected to plant as many as 12,500 muskies in the lake in October as part of a fisheries prescription for the impoundment.

Mark Tonello, the DNR biologist who ordered the fish to be planted, said his logic was simple.

“It’s because Hamlin Lake is a big lake with the potential to grow muskies to trophy size and create a very exciting fishery. Muskie opportunities in this part of the state are very lacking. It will create a fishery that really doesn’t exist within at least two hours of Ludington.”

Tonello said the nearest muskie fisheries are probably Thornapple Lake near Hastings and Skegemog Lake near Elk Rapids, along with recently stocked Lake Margarethe near Grayling.

“I’ve been talking to to some of the muskie alliance guys, and one of the reasons they’re so excited is Hamlin is a big, diverse lake and you’re not going to see forage problems,” Tonello said.

Hamlin Lake received plantings of tiger muskies, a sterile hybrid of pike and muskellunge, from 1969-1988 and there are several anecdotal accounts of Great Lakes muskellunge appearing in the lake well into the 1950s.

Tonello said he doesn’t expect the muskies will hurt any other gamefish populations.

“As far as eating walleye, that’s not their preferred prey. Sure they’ll eat a couple, but with as many as we’re stocking, it should not be an issue,” Tonello said.

Tonello noted that Hamlin is scheduled to receive a walleye plant again next spring.

He said panfishermen concerned the muskies may impact Hamlin’s bluegill fishery shouldn’t worry.

“While they may eat a few panfish, that’s not their primary prey,” Tonello said. “They really prefer to eat soft-rayed prey like suckers and carp. Quite frankly, I think walleye have more of a potential to impact panfish more than pike and muskies do.”

The “prescription” for muskies is for a large plant over three years followed by maintenance plants.

“I asked for, I think, 12,500, which is 2.3 per acre or something like that,” Tonello said. He said the lake would get 12,500 or so each of the next three years, followed by another plant in 2010.

“Of course, raising muskies is not an exact science so I don’t know how many I’ll get. The hatchery will try for that, and they have assured me they have a good number available.”

Tonello said the fish, which are reared at Wolf Lake Hatchery near Kalamazoo from eggs obtained from Thornapple Lake and Lake Hudson near Adrian, are about 11 inches long right now. He said the fish could spawn within four or five years. The two-year stocking gap in 2008 and 2009 will help biologists understand if they’re getting natural reproduction from the lake in the future.

The addition of muskies to the fishery means that the size limit on pike on Hamlin Lake will be reinstated in 2006. Starting April 1, the size limit on pike will be 24 inches and the daily limit will be two fish. The muskellunge size limit will be 42 inches, but the fish are not expected to reach legal size for about six years.

“It means spear fishermen are going to have to be alert, have to be judicious and make sure that they’re not spearing a muskie,” Tonello said of the change. “It definitely will change things a bit for the spearfishermen. They’re not going to be able to whack any skinny, toothy-looking fish that comes along.”

Tonello said hook-and-line anglers will also have to handle accidentally caught fish with care.

“The most important thing is to get them back in the water as quickly as possible,” Tonello said. “Keep them out of the water as short a time as possible.”

Tonello said if a fish is hooked in it gut or gills, the best option is to cut the hook off and leave it in the fish.

“A single hook or even a treble will rust out,” Tonello said. “They have a better chance of surviving than they do if you rip it out or tear them up real bad.”

I CANT BELIEVE IT!!!!! I almost wet my pants today when I read the article!!! I've fish hamlin all my life and it's going to crank out some monsters in the years to come. If anyone has more information let me know right away. Does anyone know the exact date they'll be stocked??? I wont miss that for anything. This frickin rocks!!! Its about time.

thedude

Stocking dates are usually kept quiet for a reason (poaching, anti-muskie people, etc.)

Great to see! A good article and hopefully Mark Tonello's quotes about muskies forage help educate some people too.

The only thing missing from Hamilton's posting here is the ominous picture that accompanied the article..............A SPEARED muskie from 2003 out of Hamlin, hopefully this is not some sort of foreshadowing of the future to come there.

Just curious, how much does it cost the MMA for the know the difference signs? and is there any thoughts of putting signs up on Hamlin in the near future?

I've already talked to Mark about signs and also doing some other education for the area including how this can benefit the local economy. You know... muskies aren't evil, etc., etc.

Hey Will,

Thats a good point. I do have a couple questions about the stocking: Have they given any thought to spreading them out in the lake??? Are they going to do anything about placing a net on the dam??? Have they thought about stocking them at night to avoid predation from seagulls???

Thanks, thedude

They'll take all the normal precautions with the stocking so there are no worries there. The stocking as it's currently done is highly sucessful.

The dam isn't going to pose a problem. Besides, placing a barrier on a dam can turn into a major poilitical fiasco since the dam is under federal control. The Army Corps isn't too fond of messing with the design and/or flow near a dam.

Overhead predators are not much of a concern, they have been dealing with these since July and know that shadows mean trouble. I have never seen a problem after stocking with any type of overhead predator. The bigger problem can be cormorants and loons an there's not much you can do to stop those (legally).

There are a dozen plus sites available for stocking and distribution around the lake including all the sites we have been using for years to stock walleye. No need to worry about aerial predators at this time of year. It will be stock, shake their heads, and zip into the weeds all within a minute.

There was one fun site for walleye stocking over by the dune resorts that was sand beach before the weed line. We stocked the walleye (1.5 - 2.0") and as the silt/sand cloud cleared up they shook their heads, and headed for the weed line. Whoa there! A school of sand shiners took off down the beach sand and the walleye did about face and chased them as fast as they could out of sight. All of this took less than a minute.

Thanks for the info guys. If you do happen to find out the date shoot me a pm if you dont mind. Are any of you guys going to be up there?? Would be nice to meet some of you. keep me posted.

Thedude

Hamlin Lake has 3,600 new residents — all muskies

By BRIAN MULHERIN Daily News Staff Writer 10-19-2005
bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com 843-1122, ext. 348

VICTORY TOWNSHIP — After a two-and-a-half-hour ride in a stocking truck, 3,600 northern muskies arrived in Hamlin Lake and quickly started to act like they owned the place Tuesday.
The 10-inch fall fingerlings, which were raised at Wolf Lake Hatchery near Kalamazoo, spread out and basked in the last light of the day near the lake’s surface.

Fisheries Technician Dennis Mulka delivered the fish and said they were hand-counted as they were loaded into the truck. The total number of fish was 3,623, with a few more stocked that might not survive not included in that number. Typically, stocked fish numbers are estimated by the average weight of each fish.

But muskies aren’t like any other hatchery fish. Mulka said the muskies are much more difficult to raise than steelhead or Chinook, with a crew of 3-5 people spending eight hours a day, seven days a week, raising them.

The eggs for the fish were collected in April from Lake Hudson and Thornapple Lake. After hatching the fish were introduced to a diet of live brine shrimp, then switched to a pellet food. He said the fish in Hamlin have been on a diet of minnows since mid-July.

Fisheries Biologist Matt Hughes, who works at the hatchery, said the pond drained Tuesday only had a return of about 40 percent. Since the fish are hand-counted into the ponds during the summer, the Department of Natural Resources has very good data on how each pond produces. Hughes said survival varies, but a typical pond has a return, or survival rate, of about 70 percent.

Hughes said he believed they’d probably have enough muskies to finish off Hamlin Lake’s 2005 prescription of 12,500 muskies, but he couldn’t be sure.

“We’ve got a ways to go,” he said. “But we’ve got a couple more ponds to go.”

Hughes said the next pond was planned to be drained on Oct. 25 and he expected another stocking at Hamlin would be made that day.

Wow. I just talked to Brian on the phone as he was putting the story together at about 11:00, talk about getting it on the web in a hurry.

It's nice to see the interest in this program up there.

I confess to talking to Brian earlier in the morning and to follow MMA policy I referred Brian to Will for questions and accuracy.

What was funny was that on my morning coffee run I was asked by cohorts in the local bait shop about the future Hamlin muskie stocking. I tell them it will be soon. I then get home and there was a call message from Bob Kingsley (Muskegon Chronicle outdoor writer). I call Bob back on the house phone and Bob is asking about the Hamlin Lake muskies. At the same time Brian calls me on my cell phone and I then have muskies coming out of both ears. As to posting the article I figured it was public in the press therefore okay to put in general forum. Besides I admit to being excited after having muskies on the brain all morning.